Browse Forums Bathrooms and Laundry 1 Sep 27, 2016 8:22 am We were given the keys to our new house almost 2 years ago, and since about 9 months ago we've had someone regularly using the guess bathroom. About 4-6 weeks ago I thought I'd noticed a mildewy smell ... and yes, it's there & is slowly getting worse. I wasn't sure how much cleaning said guest had been doing, so I anti-moulded & cleaned everything, washed the towels, poured a bucket of water down the floor-waste (we've had nasty smells coming up before, when nobody was using that bathroom) ... and it's still there. Now this is the first time I've worn my glasses while cleaning the drain for the shower. It's one of those 900mm-long strip-drains, with a tile embedded in the cover, and you need to remove the cover to clean it out. The drain itself is basically a stainless steel tray with a hole where it drains to the floor waste underneath. Anyway - I've found two things which look wrong. First, the hole in the stainless tray doesn't line-up with the waste underneath. It looks like there's a good vertical inch between the underside of the drain and the top of the waste, and because the waste isn't under the hole, water is going to be just sitting on the ledge in that hole. Secondly, I knew they had stuffed the location of the strip-drain itself and it sits slightly under the wall-tile, but it also appears there is no grout or anything between the end of the drain and the wall ... there's just air there, meaning that if the drain overflows (which does happen - they don't empty that quickly) then water just flows over the end of the drain. Assuming the membrane is intact (I don't know why it wouldn't be & there's no sign of water on the outside of adjoining walls), could all those open spaces with contact with (stale not-moving) air, where water is probably pooling & rarely drying, be the source of the mildewy smell? I've linked photos to illustrate ... with a medium-sized screwdriver in the shot for some feeling of depth. http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k124/originalForg/waste_of_drain_zpsngjfv8sw.jpg http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k124/originalForg/end_of_drain_zpsk2lhfccb.jpg Yeah mine about 9 metres long and 8 wide with slope of 25% at one point but the end point of the outlet is past the side of garage and if he concretes allowing for… 4 4539 Agreed. I just found out today the certifier has not given the final sign off. 2 4091 Grab a hose, insert it at the top of the inlet/down pipe and turn the water on and see where the water is escaping from. Then you'll know. 3 8467 |